Why do so many consumers choose to shop at huge online retailers such as Amazon? Most will tell you it’s because those companies have removed barriers to conversion. They’ve set aside hefty shipping charges, and offer two-day, next-day, and in some cases, even same-day shipping.

As a small- or medium-size business owner, it can be nearly impossible to compete with the online giants. Still, you must try if you aim to stay in the game this holiday season.

Here are a few tips on how you can ramp up your marketing strategy for the holiday season:

Provide Scaled Solutions to Conversion Barriers

Study the tactics of your competition and choose which offers you can reasonably match. If you’re a small business who can’t afford to offer free shipping to every customer, try meeting them halfway with an offer for free shipping over a certain dollar amount.

Empower your customers by giving them plenty of opportunities to review your service in public, and make sure you engage with them in community forums. If you can manage super-fast shipping — at least for customers who make large purchases — do so.

Ramp Up Your Brand Recognition

Everywhere your brand has a presence, your holiday advertising should boast common and consistent themes, including:

• A single logo that’s instantly recognizable as belonging to your brand.
• A holiday slogan that invokes immediate recognition. Bonus points for driving emotion.
• The same color scheme throughout all your holiday advertising and signage.
• Bring in a recognizable brand ambassador. Even a local celebrity influencer can step up recognition.

A holiday marketing strategy that utilizes commonalities in every message will help consumers recognize your brand much more quickly. With recognition comes trust, and with trust comes conversion.

Use Psychology

Once you’re aware that the human brain processes images much faster than text, it makes sense to pack your holiday advertising campaign full of powerful images to encourage conversion.

There are other important areas of consumer psychology your company can utilize to coax casual visitors into die-hard shoppers:

• Use words such as authentic, guaranteed, or certified in your holiday advertising to establish brand trust.
• Encourage an exclusive shopping experience by adding offers to your holiday marketing strategy that only apply to certain shoppers such as members of your mailing list or followers of your Facebook page. Everyone enjoys the feeling of being privy to insider information.
• Choose your marketing colors carefully. Red, for instance, is a color typically associated with clearance and sale items. Green, on the other hand, may be a good color to use if you’re promoting products that boost the welfare of the planet.

Ramping up Your Online Presence

Increase brand recognition and conversion rates by optimizing your online presence by updating (or creating new, holiday specific, campaigns and messaging):

• Landing Pages
• Social Media Posts
• Page Banners

Keeping an active online presence is important all year long, but it’s an especially vital component of your holiday marketing strategy.